Donovan explained how the whole banana skin deal got started: Country Joe and the Fish were promoting a concert by driving around in a truck with a model of a giant banana and saying that smoking banana skins get you high. They figured the newspapers would pick up on it for a day or two and they'd get publicity for their gig. However, Donovan's song, "Mellow Yellow" happened to be released that week. It contained the lines,

"Electrical banana is gonna be a sudden craze;
Electrical banana is gonna be the very next phase..."

and the media went crazy reporting that crazed hippies thought that smoking banana skins could get you high. The rest is hokey history.

Elmer